CyrusOne begins construction on new data center in Loudoun County

Global data center services provider CyrusOne hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for a new data center on property it recently purchased in the Loudoun Tech Center in Sterling.

“We’re very excited to expand our footprint to Northern Virginia in order to meet existing customer demand for space in the region. In addition, this new data center will enable us to more effectively serve our growing customer base on the East Coast,” Tesh Durvasula, chief commercial officer of CyrusOne, said in a statement.

Northern Virginia is home to one of the world’s largest clusters of data center real estate, with an estimated 70 percent of Internet traffic passing through Loudoun County.

The 14 acres Cyrus One purchased for $6.8 million at the corner of Nokes Boulevard and Ridgetop Circle is expected to accommodate a shell of about 400,000 square feet at full build out, with up to 240,000 square feet of raised floor space, 36,000 square feet of Class A office space and up to 48 megawatts of critical load.

“We are delighted that a global colocation leader such as CyrusOne has chosen Loudoun County and northern Virginia to build their first East Coast data center,” said Bob Blue, president of Dominion Virginia Power. “This is the culmination of years of concerted and focused effort between Dominion’s economic development team and CyrusOne to locate a facility that meets the business needs of CyrusOne, while ensuring that there will be a robust supply of reliable electric power available.”

The first phase of construction includes a 124,000-square-foot shell with 60,000 square feet of raised floor space, 15,000 square feet of office space, and 12 megawatts of critical load. CyrusOne expects the first phase to be complete in October.

The company, based out of Carrollton, Texas, specializes in enterprise data center services and colocation solutions. It provides facilities that protect the operation of IT infrastructure for more than 600 customers, including nine of the Fortune 20 and more than 125 of the Fortune 1000 companies. Altogether, CyrusOne has 25 data center facilities across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.